Policy analyst with the Integrated Social Development Center (ISODEC), Dr Steve Manteaw has urged government to consolidate funding of the Free Senior High School (FSHS) from the oil revenue with that of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) into a common Fund in respect of education in Ghana.
In his view, such a mechanism would better help track funding for the Free SHS, and as well avoid wastages.
Speaking at a National Dialogue on Education series organized by the Daily Graphic, supported by STAR Ghana, and held in Takoradi on Friday 17 August 2018, on theme; “Sustainable Partnership for Education Educational Financing: Leveraging Natural Resources Revenue for a Better Educational Infrastructure in Ghana”, Dr Steve Manteaw charged that government prioritises funding of the Free SHS policy but within a definite framework that ensures efficient management of our natural resources.
Dr Manteaw said: “If we all agree that Free SHS is a good thing and we all support it, and we are all looking for ways of financing it sustainably, then let government go through the process to make education to be one of the areas to be funded with oil revenue. And once government does that, let’s find a way of harmonizing all the oil revenues set aside to support education with that of the GETFund”
“So the GETFund should not stand alone and then resources available from oil to finance education alone. When we do that we will not be able to track their use, and there could be duplications. So put all of them into a common fund for the purposes of financing Free SHS”, he continued.
Other Funding sources
Dr Steve Manteaw also highlighted some internal funding systems that could support the Free SHS policy. He remarked that a portion of the 10 percent allocation of mineral royalties to the District Assemblies could be utilized to support the education of less privileged students in the area. He however conceded that the inexistence of a framework for the management of our mineral revenues is worrying.
“All district Assemblies in the mining areas that are receiving a share of royalties should be obliged to set aside a portion to support the education of people in their catchment area to complement whatever resources are available in financing the FSHS”, he clarified.
He opines that another percentage of the of mineral royalties received in respect of the Mining Community Development Fund for host communities could be a responsive and prudent means of supporting the education of the people.
“In addition to the 10 percent the mining districts are receiving, they are also going to receive a 20 percent of another 10 percent set aside for the development of the mining industry. And mining host communities are required by the law to establish a Mining Community Development Fund to receive these monies, and they would determine how they use these monies for the development of their communities. Again another opportunity to set aside a small portion to complement available resources for financing FSHS”, Dr Manteaw elaborated.
Another recommendation made by the policy analyst was to retune Corporate Social Responsibilities taken by companies in the extractive sector to augment funding for the Free SHS policy. He averred that some substantial amounts are spent by these companies in various disciplines in the country, and thus cited a $3 million budgetary allocation by Goldfields Ghana Limited made is respect of supporting the Black Stars.
He said “If we have over a sixty to hundred companies operating in our country, contributing small of their CSR budget towards education financing, I am pretty sure we will be again be able to rake in some money. And all these should not be sitting separately, everything should go into a common pod for better management”
The Ugandan Experience
“The first country to ever have implemented a Free SHS policy in Africa was Uganda in 2007. At the time it started the programme, its GDP was about US$12 billion. Ghana in 2017 when it started the FSHS policy had an economy worth US$37.5 billion of its GDP; about thrice the economy of Uganda”, Dr Manteaw argued.
He contends that the economy of Ghana is favourable to support the financing for the FSHS policy as compared to the Ugandans, stressing “Uganda with their worth of GDP has been able to sustain it for more than a decade”
Taking cognizance of some variables that could have accounted for the Ugandans’ success in implementing and sustaining the policy, Dr Manteaw inferred that the population of Ghana was relatively lower than that of Uganda; a factor he noted makes Ghana better off to implement the policy.
“In 2007 the population of Uganda was 29.9 million. In the year Ghana introduced Free SHS the population was 27.41 million. Which means that the Ghanaian population was lower than that of Uganda and yet with that small size of the economy, Uganda has managed to sustain Free Secondary School Education”
“If you take per capita income, according to World Bank, Uganda has US$380 as at 2007. In the case of Ghana, in the year the Free SHS was introduced, our per capita income was US$1,480. This means in terms of economics, we were better placed to implement the FSHS than the Ugandans”, he buttressed his argument.
Challenging Ghanaians to appreciate the Ugandans’ financing mechanism for the Free Secondary Education, Dr Manteaw explained that the Ugandans’ have less of proceeds from their natural resources as compared to Ghana to support the policy. He mentioned the difference the sister country made was to utilize tax revenues to finance the policy, and a little more from donors.
“Uganda does not have any significant natural resource endowment. They don’t have the gold, manganese, bauxite and others that we have. All Uganda has is the Lake Victoria and the Nile River. Recently in 2007, around the same time Ghana discovered oil they also discovered oil but they are yet to earn even a dollar from their oil because they haven’t started production. So how have they funded their Free Secondary Education? From taxes and a bit from donors!” Dr Manteaw emphasized.
The next convening would take place on Friday August 24th in Cape Coast at 9am inside Samrit Hotel.
Credit: Abraham Mensah (Skyy Media)